The Fire Of Determination
by GoldGuardian2418
Summary: When Grillby gets sick, Sage steps up to handle running the restaurant. Done as a request for Steelcode. :)


**Steelcode, who owns Sage, asked for this one. Here you go, **

**Amigo! Enjoy! :) **

**Undertale belongs to Toby Fox. I only own Dr. Hana. **

**A/N: "Hana" means flower in Japanese.**

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**The Fire Of Determination**

Sage paced the waiting room nervously as he waited to hear news about his father. Grillby had woken up that morning and hadn't felt well before he had nearly collapsed going out the door that morning. Sage, who had been getting ready for school, had caught his father before he fell down completely and called 9-1-1. The EMTs got there fast and didn't even flinch at seeing that Grillby was a fire monster. They just loaded him up into the back of the ambulance and Sage climbed aboard, worried about his father while the EMTs did their best to help out on the way to the hospital.

Two hours had now passed and the teenager was worried, hoping his dad was okay. The doors opened and a tall woman with blonde hair pulled back into a French braid and brown eyes walked out, her blue work scrubs and white lab coat indicating she was a doctor. She gazed around the room before seeing the boy and smiling gently as she walked over to him. "Sage?" She asked gently.

The boy looked up at her. "Is my dad okay?" He asked worriedly.

She nodded. "I'm Dr. Hana," she said. "And your dad's okay. It seems he caught a bit of stomach flu. Has he been showing signs of not feeling well lately?"

"No, ma'am. It just happened this morning," Sage said.

She nodded. "Come with me," she said gently and led the boy through the doors and to a room, opening the door and leading him inside. "Mr. Grillby, you have a visitor," she said with a smile.

Sage ran up to his father and hugged him in relief, to which Grillby hugged him back, his fire a bit dim, but he was alert. "I'm alright, Sage," he said soothingly.

"Dad," the boy said, tears in his eyes. Grillby gently wiped away his son's tears, gently shushing him as the boy finally calmed down.

Dr. Hana smiled as she came up to them. "Alright, Grillby, I'm suggesting bed rest until you get better," she said, her tone gentle. "And I believe Golden Flower Tea will be beneficial. I've heard many good things about it."

"It is a good tea for ailments," Grillby said.

The doctor smiled. "Sage, will you be alright making sure your father gets plenty of rest?" She asked. "He has to be careful not to overdo it even on his good days until he gets better."

The teenager nodded. "Is there like cold medicine that can help too?" He asked.

Dr. Hana gently shook her head. "I'm afraid our human medicine doesn't have the same effect on...people like your father," she said gently.

"You mean monsters like me," Grillby said, his tone patient.

She looked sheepish. "I'm sorry. I was trying not to offend you," she admitted.

The fire elemental chuckled weakly. "I am a monster after all," he said gently.

"But that's just your race," Dr. Hana said. "I can see with my own eyes how much you care for your son. You might not be human on the outside, but you've got more heart than some humans I know."

Grillby appreciated the compliment and Sage smiled, glad the lady was understanding. He then had a thought. "Wait, what about the restaurant?" The boy asked.

"I'll have to let my employees know," the fire monster said. "They should be able to run the restaurant for a bit until I recover."

"Do you both have a ride home?" Dr. Hana asked.

"I'll call Uncle Sans," Sage said, dialing the skeleton's number.

Sans was there instantly and he teleported them home. "Man, Grillbz. I can't remember the last time you got sick," he said.

"A long time ago," Grillby replied as he lay in bed.

Sage fell into thought and then had an idea. "Uncle Sans, can you keep Dad company while I'm at school?" He asked.

"Sure thing, kid," Sans replied.

Sage hugged his father and uncle before going to school, going to speak with the principal about his idea and to ask for an excused absence. "I can do my schoolwork assignments at home and drop them off in the morning," he said.

The principal nodded. "Are you sure you'll be able to handle that much responsibility, Sage?" She asked. "I know you're a responsible young man, but that is quite a bit."

The boy nodded. "I can do it," he said.

She nodded again. "Alright, it's only fair to see how it goes, but if after a few days it gets to be too much, let me know and I'll see what I can do."

"Okay. And thank you, ma'am."

After getting his schoolwork and excused absence note from the principal, the young man headed towards his father's restaurant. The waitresses who worked there and had opened up were concerned when they heard Grillby was sick. "Will he be alright?" One of them asked.

"He will be," Sage said. "But until then, I'll do my best to run the restaurant, but I'll need help."

"No worries," said a second waitress. "I can show you how to do the reports when it's closing time."

"And ourselves and the cook know what to do," a third waitress said. "Besides, you've helped your dad out before. You'll do fine."

"Thank you," the boy said, grateful for the waitresses' help.

Many of the usual patrons came in and were surprised to see Sage doing what Grillby usually did, but understood when they heard the fire elemental was sick. "You're a good son to oversee the restaurant while your father recovers, Sage," Asgore said with a smile.

"He certainly is," Toriel said with a smile. "By the way, how is your schoolwork coming?"

"It's coming along good," the boy said. "I'm doing it a bit at a time and trying not to fall behind."

"Doing school and running a restaurant," Doggo said with a smile. "Just don't get too stressed out yourself, Sage."

"Yes. It would do no good if you got sick too," Dogressa said in motherly worry.

"Don't worry, I'll make sure I don't," he replied, though was grateful for their concern.

* * *

_One week later..._

Grillby woke up and took a deep breath, glad to find he could breath again. He then got up and found he was feeling much better. His temperature was where it should have been, which meant the medicine and bed rest had done the trick. He went to check on Sage, who was already up and working on schoolwork. "Good morning, son," the fire elemental said.

Sage perked up and turned to him. "Good morning, Dad," he said, running up to him and hugging him. "How are you feeling?"

"Much better," Grillby answered before looking at the boy's desk. "Finishing up some homework?"

"Yeah. Just about done," the boy said.

"Well, I'll get to making us some breakfast before you go to school."

Sage smiled as he finished up his schoolwork and packed up his schoolbag, going into the kitchen to eat a hearty breakfast. "I'm glad you're feeling better, Dad," he said.

"Me too," he said. "I missed working at the restaurant, but I didn't get any calls from the workers, so I'm assuming things went well while I was recovering."

Sage grinned as he ate, enjoying every bit of his breakfast before the school bus honked. "Bye, Dad. I'll see you after school," the teenager said, hugging his father. "I love you."

"I love you too, son," Grillby said warmly, returning the hug. "Have a good day at school."

After Sage left, the fire elemental headed for the restaurant, greeting the Royal Dog Guard, who returned the greetings warmly. "You doing better, Grillby?" Doggo asked.

"Yes, much better. Thank you," Grillby said, going in and everyone greeted him warmly while one of the waitresses smiled.

"Things went well, thanks to Sage," she said.

The fire elemental blinked. "What?" He asked curiously.

"Oh, he didn't tell you?" Another waitress asked in surprise. "Why, he came and ran the restaurant while you were sick."

"I showed him how to do the money reports and he caught on quick," the third waitress said.

The cook came out. "He did all the things you would do, Grillby," he said. "Even made sure our hours were recorded properly."

Grillby was stunned to hear Sage had run the restaurant while his father had been recovering. "But what about his schoolwork?" He asked.

"He got an excused absence from the principal and brought his schoolwork with him," said the first waitress. "He worked on it during a lull and after he had seen to the customers."

"We took care of the bar orders seeing as he's not old enough to manage that quite yet, but he did really good," the second waitress said.

"He even helped me in the kitchen," the cook said with a smile.

"We knew he was a responsible young man, but he went above and beyond the past week," the third waitress said. "I'm surprised he didn't tell you."

"Maybe he wanted it to be a surprise or just to do something nice for you, Grillby," the first waitress said. "From what we've seen, Sage is a very humble person."

"That he is," Grillby said with a gentle smile. "And I'm pleased to hear everything went well. Perhaps I should consider letting Sage work here part-time."

"I think he'd like that," the cook said with a smile. "He's a hard-working boy. You should be proud of him."

"Oh, I am," the fire elemental said before they got to work.

* * *

After school and thanking the principal again for allowing him the excused absence, Sage headed to the restaurant with a smile, meeting up with Frisk and Undyne along the way. "Hey, punk!" Undyne said with a smile, giving him a noogie. "What've you been up to?"

"Oh, nothing much," Sage said with a smile, knowing Undyne's greeting was a form of affection. "Just off to see Dad."

"Is Uncle Grillby better?" Frisk asked worriedly.

"He is," the boy replied with a smile. "I think he's at the restaurant now."

They soon arrived and went in with Frisk glomping Grillby happily and Undyne greeting the fire elemental warmly. "Good to have you back, Grillby. We missed you," she said.

"And I'm glad to be back," he said before setting Frisk down gently and turning to his son. "How was school, Sage?"

"It was good, Dad," the boy said, hugging him.

"Good," he said. "Because I'd like to talk to you in my office."

Sage was surprised and swallowed hard. "Um, okay," he said unsurely.

As one of the waitresses took Frisk and Undyne's order, the fire elemental and his son went into the office and Sage sat down, dreading what was to come. Grillby surprised him by sitting beside him and giving him a warm smile. "First off, I want to thank you for taking care of the restaurant while I was sick," the fire elemental said. "The waitresses and cook told me you did a good job and even kept up with your schoolwork too."

Sage blushed, a little embarrassed that his dad had found out about that. "I...I wasn't sure how to tell you," he admitted. "Plus, I didn't want you to worry."

Grillby chuckled. "Sage, I'm not mad. Rather, I'm grateful and proud of you," he said. "I'm glad the restaurant was in good hands while I recovered."

The boy looked relieved that his father wasn't mad at him and he accepted the warm hug his father gave him, relaxing. Grillby smiled. "And that brings me to a question for you," he said.

"What?" Sage asked curiously.

"How would you like to work here part-time?"

The teenager was surprised. "For real?" He asked.

"For real," the fire elemental said with a smile. "I know you have your job at the ranch and your schoolwork, so for now, it would just be for a couple hours a day. But in the summer when school is out, you can do more hours here if you want."

Sage hugged his father. "Dad, that'll be awesome!" He said, thrilled at the idea.

Grillby chuckled. "That way, if I can't be here, I know I can trust you to run things for me," he said.

The boy smiled. "I won't let you down, Dad," he said.

The fire elemental chuckled. "I know you won't, son," he said. "You've got that fire of determination in you and I'm proud of you for it."

Sage hugged his father again, feeling lucky to have such a great dad and Grillby felt equally lucky to have such a great son.

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**Please leave a review, but no flames! **

**GoldGuardian2418 **


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